Author Archives: Allison Deger

About Allison Deger

Allison Deger is the Assistant Editor of Mondoweiss.net. Follow her on twitter at @allissoncd.

Al-Manatir: the protest village in occupied territory that was destroyed before it was built

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Allison Deger

The Israeli military works with hilltop settlers in occupied lands outside Nablus to destroy the Palestinian protest encampment of al-Manatir in Burin

Posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports, Settlers/Colonists | Tagged | 6 Comments

Meet the Knesset’s newest settler members

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Allison Deger

Orit Struk and Moshe Feiglin are the Knesset’s newest settler ministers, elected in January. They are bent on annexing most of the West Bank and rebuilding the Jewish temple on the site of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Settlers/Colonists | 18 Comments

Israeli strike on Syria followed violations of Lebanon’s airspace and movement of missile defense system to north

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Allison Deger

Late Tuesday evening Israeli plans bombed a weapons convoy in Syria destined for Lebanon, marking Israel’s military entry into the now two-year crisis in Syria

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Middle East, syria | 42 Comments

Election Day in Jerusalem: Deciding to vote, boycott or rebel

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Allison Deger

Israelis and Palestinians from the left struggled with how to vote in the recent Israeli elections, and if they should vote at all.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports | 38 Comments

Palestinian Authority police use live fire inside of al-Amari refugee camp

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Allison Deger

On Sunday night, Palestinian police fired live rounds at demonstrators in the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah in the roughest encounter between security forces and West Bank Palestinians to date.

Posted in Occupation, On the ground reports | 3 Comments

In Budrus, grief stings

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Allison Deger

The funeral of Sameer Awad from Budrus ends with tear gas in the village and over the deceased’s grave site.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports | Tagged | 10 Comments

Palestinian teenager killed by the Israeli military near Budrus

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Allison Deger

A Palestinian teenager was shot repeatedly and killed by the Israeli military this morning near the West Bank village of Budrus.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Occupation | 8 Comments

Netanyahu ordered eviction of Bab al-Shams

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Allison Deger

This morning in the darkness, hundreds of Israeli special forces descended on the protest encampment of Bab al-Shams in the E1 area of the West Bank and detained 150 villagers in what Israel is declaring a ‘closed military zone’ — a bureaucratic designation used to force Palestinians from land

Posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, Settlers/Colonists | 28 Comments

On foot through the hills of E1 — Palestinians join Bab al-Shams protest village

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Allison Deger

Allison Deger travels with dozens of Palestinians as they evade Israeli soldiers in the hills of Jerusalem to reach the new protest village of Bab al-Shams in E1.

Posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports | Tagged | 18 Comments

Rand Paul’s Israel trip funded by evangelical group that fosters hatred against gays

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Allison Deger

Rand Paul is in Israel this week, and suggesting that American aid be cut to the Jewish state. His tour is funded by the American Family Association, an evangelical organization dubbed a “hate group” by the Southern Law Poverty Center for anti-gay bigotry.

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 5 Comments

More than 700 rabbis, cantors and rabbinical students protest E1 construction

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Allison Deger

Despite an announcement on Friday from the Prime Minister’s office that Benjamin Netanyahu delayed construction in the E1 corridor between Jerusalem and the West Bank, more than 700 American rabbis, cantor and rabbinical students continue to decry the controversial settlement plan.

Posted in American Jewish Community, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, One state/Two states, US Politics | 13 Comments

Changing PA’s name to ‘State of Palestine’ raises questions on where Gaza stands in PLO’s political vision

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Allison Deger

On Friday the Palestinian Authority (PA) changed its name officially to “The State of Palestine,” through a presidential decree by Mahmoud Abbas. Materially, only passports, identification cards, and official PA letterhead will reflect the new name, but names have power and meaning beyond words themselves and the “State of Palestine” signals yet another failure to include Gaza in the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) political vision. More subtly the name creates confusion as to which political body is the leader of the Palestinian people.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Occupation | 19 Comments

Israel’s poor, including ex-settlers, face cuts as state funds head to the West Bank

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Allison Deger

Once living comfortably in Gaza outposts former Gush Katif settlers are now longer the apple of the government’s eye and will begin paying rent on their trailers after seven and a half years of government subsidies.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Settlers/Colonists | 16 Comments

Abbas threatens to dissolve Oslo as protests rise over PA’s untenable financial situation

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Allison Deger

Last week Palestinian Authority employees announced their second strike in the past 30 days. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded indirectly by threatening to dissolve the PA and called on Israel to re-occupy the West Bank. Abbas’s statement was primarily meant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also sent a subtle message to West Bank protesters making clear that Israel should be the scapegoat for their current financial woes.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | Tagged | 54 Comments

The birth of Jesus– and the mythological birth of a Palestinian state

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Allison Deger

As tourists celebrated Christmas in Manger Square in Bethlehem, shop owners were working. Despite its widely-hailed new UN Observer state status, the West Bank is in economic decline.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Media, Occupation, On the ground reports | 10 Comments

Following Yarmouk attack, thousands of Palestinians flee Syria for uncertain future in Lebanon

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Allison Deger

Following air strikes Sunday by the Syrian military on the country’s largest refugee camp, Palestinians are fleeing from the relative shelter of refugee status in Syria to strapped aid services in Lebanon. Once home to 150,000 refugees, Yarmouk camp in Damascus has emptied with Palestinian leaving en masse for the first time since violence erupted two years ago for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

Posted in Arab Spring, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, syria | 6 Comments

Hebron teen was killed by Israelis minutes after buying cake for his 17th birthday — PCHR

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Allison Deger

More doubts have emerged over the shooting of a Hebron 17-year-old who was on his way home with birthday cake. Today B’tselem posted the above video of Mohammed Salayme moments after he was killed by an Israeli border police officer on Wednesday, December 11, 2012.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, Reports/Video | Comments Off

Family of teenager killed in Hebron calls fake gun story a ‘fabrication’

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Allison Deger

New details have emerged on the murder of 17-year old Mohammed Salayme that took place last night in Hebron, casting doubt on the Israeli investigation that determined the youth threatened a border policeman with a toy gun.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 55 Comments

Poet Joy Harjo responds to boycott demands over Israeli performance by adding a West Bank visit

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Allison Deger

After defending a decision against the advisement of Palestinian, Native and solidarity activists to cancel a Tel Aviv University performance, Native poet Joy Harjo has responded by stating she was too quick to speak against the academic and cultural boycott of Israel and has scheduled a visit to the West Bank.

Posted in Activism, BDS, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 25 Comments

Israel’s annexation moment has arrived

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Allison Deger

Discourse from within the Israeli government to formalize Greater Israel may indicate that Israel is finally planning to formally annex the West Bank.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, One state/Two states, Settlers/Colonists | 40 Comments

With cynicism and apprehension, West Bank Palestinians support UN bid

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Allison Deger

Conversations with Palestinians in the West Bank reveal that many believe Thursday’s expected bid as a non-member state to the United Nations (UN) is the best prospect for a better future, despite no immediate benefit, an unknown effect on the political rights of refugees and the possibility of Israeli and American aid sanctions.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, One state/Two states, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 36 Comments

Not skipping a beat, Israeli embassy alludes to ‘another Gaza’ over Palestinian UN bid

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Allison Deger

Days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. released a video equating Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s expected UN bid for statehood to launching rockets from Gaza.

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, One state/Two states, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 25 Comments

IDF spokesman posts blackface photo of himself as Obama, then issues non-apology

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Phil Weiss

Sacha Dratwa, IDF spokesman, publishes photo of himself daubed in Dead Sea mud as Obama. Israeli racism at work

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 17 Comments

The war in the West Bank

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Allison Deger

Gaza transformed the political landscape of the West Bank. Popular resistance has new meaning. And as the world was watching eight days of air strikes on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank erupted in unexpected protests in every major checkpoint and city. At least four died and 200 were injured.

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports | Tagged | 36 Comments

A funeral in Nabi Saleh signals new political consciousness in West Bank

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Allison Deger

A report from the funeral of Rushdi Tamimi, shot by the Israeli military at a protest. “The psychology of defeat is starting to change,” says one activist. With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s failure to bring about the promise of statehood, and Gaza embattled, West Bank Palestinians are beginning to shed the discourse of two-states and reflect on new options.

Posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, On the ground reports | Tagged | 8 Comments